FNM September 17 - Wrath of The Stalemates

Knight Exemplar: "Knights know no
fear! Wait, what does that new
ability in Scars do? ...Son of a..."

Last night was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at Friday Night Magic (FNM). I had a 50/50 win/loss record over five rounds, but for most of the games I lost, I went down swinging. Or, more accurately, went down sitting with a solid defense that my opponents simply couldn’t get through.

I was playing mono-white knights. Strangely for a white deck, it has zero life gain in it, but it can still be very difficult to kill off. Between Knight Exemplar, Brave The Elements, Day of Judgment, Condemn, and Journey to Nowhere, I could set up a defensive position that could keep me alive via stalemate long past my opponent’s will to live, particularly if I managed to get two Knight Exemplars into play.

These stalemates resulted in some fun “I just won’t die” scenarios. One stalemate against an ally deck with life gain lasted long enough for my opponent to reach 142 life. It would have been more, but I kept fruitlessly clawing away at him with a Cloud Crusader.

My last game lasted 32 turns, over two-thirds of which was spent with me effectively untouchable while at 4 life. A Day of Judgment would have ended the stalemate in my favor, but he managed to give a twice-pumped Steppe Lynx protection from white with Emerge Unscathed first, dealing just enough damage to finish me.

Speaking of Steppe Lynx, I might have to make a cat deck after the release of Scars. Granted, some of these cats would have to be humanoid, but I’ve wanted to make a cat deck for a while and this could be my chance. Assuming there are enough white cat creatures for it, it will be a white-blue deck. The reason for this is a suggestion from that last opponent who said that Diminish should be included for its artwork alone.

Many minutes later, long after the discussion regarding my cat deck had supposedly ended, I commented that Mighty Leap would also be mandatory. You can't have a kitty deck without cats jumping around and getting where they're not supposed to be, darn it!

I won’t be playing FNM next week, as the Scars Prerelease is that Saturday and Sunday. I only plot to play one day, but I might play in as many as two tournaments on Saturday just because I already have a deck in mind based on spoilers and it’s almost exclusively stuff from the new set. Crafty Wizards…